This is the Edifier STAX SPIRIT S10, which looks like it has the perfect recipe to be a game-changing pair of wireless earbuds since it has Planar Magnetic Drivers and Active Noise Cancellation as well. So, is this a game changer, or is Edifier trying too hard to impress?
Unboxing
Now, if you watched our previous STAX SPIRIT S5 video, you’ll know what to expect because the unboxing experience here is very similar. The first thing you’ll see is the outer box sleeve with the visuals of the earbuds in the middle.
Then there are the supported audio codecs here at the top right and the other features at the bottom left. For some reason, the full name of the earbuds is only at the back of the box—not sure why it is like this, but hey, it is what it is, and you can see a lot more of the earbuds’ features at the back.
Sliding the outer box off reveals a box design that is exactly the same style as the S3 and the S5, with the STAX SPIRIT all around it, which reminds me of the binary text from “The Matrix”.
Then, opening the box, you’ll see a square envelope, which has the user manual and the safety guide and basically your usual documentation. Underneath are the earbuds themselves in a case, and goddamn, that is a lot of ear tips! You get a total of seven sets of ear tips of different sizes that are color-coded to match their size. I do not know about you, but I have never seen anything like this because Edifier is looking to be very committed to giving everyone the ultimate experience here, and if you still can’t get this to fit in your ears, I don’t know what to say.
Finally, you’ll find the accessory pouch, and also included is a short USB-A to USB-C cable.
Design & Build
Now, let’s start with the charging case first. It is a fully plastic case that looks very similar to a lot of the other Edifier wireless earbud cases. The case has a gunmetal color, which I like, and has a matte finish, as you all know, I always prefer something like this because there are fewer chances for it to leave any ugly fingerprints. You can also see the STAX logo at the top of the case.
But what’s weird is that although it has a matte finish, I found the case to be a little slippery and hard to open one-handed. So, if you’re going to open this in a public area, like for example on a train or a bus, do be extra careful.
The case has just one button on the inside, where you can use it to either pair the earbuds to a device or just reset the earbuds altogether. However, if it’s the first time, the earbuds will immediately be in pairing mode, thanks to Google Fast Pair.
Next, there is a light indicator in front, and in the back, you’ll find the USB-C charging port.
Then, taking a look at the earbuds inside, the first thing that I notice is that this is quite big and thick. The reason why they are a lot bigger than the normal wireless earbuds is because they need to fit the large planar magnetic drivers inside.
Another thing that makes this different from other earbuds is the fact that it comes with a pressure-sensitive touchpad placed along the sides of the stems, compared to the sensors being on top like many others. The earbuds also have sensors inside, so this is for wear detection where it pauses the music when you take them off your ears and resumes the music or media when you put them back on.
App Experience
Just like the bigger brother, the S5, this earbud can be connected to the new Edifier ConneX app—not to be confused with the Edifier Connect app previously.
Through the app’s main page, you get access to extra features that you can use to customize your listening experience. Unlike the S3 or the S5, this comes with Active Noise Cancellation.
You can play around with the noise cancellation controls, which can be set to High or Medium, and if you plan to use this outside for a run, there’s also the Ambient mode that lets you hear the outside noise so you can be very well aware of your surroundings when listening to music when you’re outdoors.
It has also included a Wind reduction mode that minimizes noise in windy environments, and if you’re not a fan of any kind of noise cancellation, you can choose to turn it off altogether.
Then, the app also has three default sound effects: Original, Dynamic, and Electrostatic, each with its very unique sound profiles. If neither of these is to your liking, you can always customize the EQ settings to suit your style.
For all you mobile gamers out there, don’t worry because there’s also a Game mode setting that you can use for low-latency audio performance when you play games.
You can access a lot more of the customization options in the app when you hit the gear icon at the top right of the screen. Here, you can set the touch control settings and even control the press sensitivity as well.
You also have access to the audio codec settings and changing the sample rates of LDAC and LHDC codecs.
The multi-point connection can also be turned on through the app over here as well, which allows you to connect to multiple devices at once, of course, this is a very useful feature, especially if you use many devices at home or at work. 
However, because of the limitations of a Bluetooth connection, using this feature will disable LDAC and LHDC functions, but you can turn the settings back on later if you really need to.
Battery Life
Battery life on these earbuds is pretty good. It lasted me about 4 hours on a single charge with noise cancellation turned on, and slightly more than 6 hours with noise cancellation turned off, and the earbuds took about an hour to fully recharge.
Now, in case you’re wondering, there is no wireless charging on this, so the only way for you to charge the earbuds is through the wired charging option.
Features
So, the biggest feature of these earbuds is the fact that these earbuds are the very first and only earbuds right now to come with planar magnetic drivers, a signature feature for all STAX SPIRIT audio products so far.
Now, without going too deep into the science of it all, basically, they have shrunk the planar magnetic drivers of the S5 to become tiny 12mm modularized planar magnetic drivers, which are capable of delivering sound that is much better and cleaner than normal drivers.
The earbuds also come with the same Qualcomm chip (QCC5181) as the S5, where this chip not only allows for Bluetooth 5.4 support but also supports the Snapdragon Sound Suite of audio codecs, including LDAC, LHDC, and Qualcomm’s aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless audio codecs.
Sound Experience
By default, these earbuds produce a very clean sound that is suitable for any type of music genre. The bass is punchy and powerful without drowning everything else, and the overall sound performance is quite warm.
Now, of course, you can customize the sound performance the way you like, and personally for me, I use the Dynamic settings as I prefer the slightly punchier bass when I am listening to music.
Then, as for the Game mode, it works quite well, and I use it a lot during “COD Mobile”, and I couldn’t detect any major lags, even during intense matches. So if you like to game a lot and listen to music a lot, then you’ll be quite satisfied with this.
Watching movies and videos is also quite a hugely enjoyable experience. The dialogue is nice and crisp, and because of the great bass, action scenes are really nice to watch. I can almost hear the impact of the punches and the kicks in each scene.
But speaking of punches, have you ever felt like a fist going into your ears or want to feel a fist go inside your ears? Now, I know this is a very weird question, but that is exactly how I felt when I turned the noise cancellation on in these earbuds.
Now, I am used to other noise-cancellation earbuds before, but I never experienced such discomfort because the pressure that these earbuds produce when the noise cancellation is turned on was very intense and quite uncomfortable that it actually made me feel like I just had to turn it off.
At first, I thought it was my music app, but it also happened when I was watching Netflix or even YouTube, so I guess here’s where I feel that planar magnetic drivers are not really meant to have ANC, and that’s why headphones do not usually have them.
[Check out my YouTube video for the sound test]
Microphones
As for the microphones, these earbuds come with a total of 6 built-in mics with 3 mics on each side, together with Qualcomm’s aptX Voice technology. Edifier says that the earbuds are capable of clear calls even in noisy environments.
And of course, I tested this out myself, and so far, the mics perform pretty well. Based on the feedback that I got from some people I made a call with, my voice was clear most of the time, but it did start to drown out just a bit when I was in a more noisy environment.
[Check out my YouTube video for the mic test]
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, I feel that these earbuds are a bit of a mixed bag; they aren’t a huge slam dunk as they should be. But on one hand, these earbuds have fantastic sound quality, great features, and good app integration. On the other hand, the noise cancellation on this is quite uncomfortable and can be quite distracting, and might be a deal breaker for some people.
Then as for the price, as of the timing of this review, it is priced at RM1,999 (~USD457) but do check out the links down below for the updated price of these earbuds.
🛒 Get the Edifier STAX SPIRIT S10 at the link below:-
Shopee (MY) – https://invl.io/cllww6l
Lazada (MY) – https://invol.co/cllww6m
